The PGA Tour continues this week as we head to Detroit Gold Club for the 2nd annual Rocket Mortgage Classic. Feel good story Nate Lashley took out the inaugural last season and he will be back to defend his title in what should be an interesting event!
As usual, we have you covered with a full preview and betting picks for the tournament, and remember, we update our PGA Tour betting picks weekly, so head to our dedicated golf page for all of the tour content!
Rocket Mortgage Classic Betting Picks
After three straight weeks of stacked fields and superstar feature groups, the PGA Tour has a bit of a respite this week as a majority of top line players have opted to take the week off.
With the Memorial Tournament just a few weeks away, players will use this weekend to rest and recuperate before a big couple of months of golf kicks off with the Memorial. Becuase of this, just three of the top 10 players in the world will be teeing it up this weekend, and after that, the big names in the field list begin to drop away quite quickly.
The Field
Bryson DeChambeau, Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed make up the three names inside the OWGR Top 10 who will be competing this week. Outside of those three players, the top ranked players who will be teeing it up include Tyrrell Hatton, Tony Finay, Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im.
It will be a great opportunity for Simpson, who currently sits atop the FedEx Cup standings, to extend his lead over a bunch of top line players who will not be playing this week, most notably Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy.
Some of the key players who will be teeing it up this week include:
Top Ranked Players:
6. W.Simpson
7. P.Reed
10. B.DeChambeau
15. T.Hatton
17. T.Finau
22. S.Im
23. H. Matsuyama
Top FedEx Cup:
1. W.Simpson
3. S.Im
5. P.Reed
6. B.Todd
9. S.Munoz
10. L.Griffin
Past Winners:
2019: N.Lashley
The Course
Course: Detroit Golf Club (North Course)
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Designed By: Donald Ross
Par: 72
Length: 7,334 Yards
Slope Rating: 134
The North Course at the Detroit Golf Club is the longer of the two courses at just over 7,000 from the back tees. As part of the re-routing of the course in an attempt to make it longer for the PGA Tour event, a portion of the South Course will be added to make the PGA Tour Championship tees just over 7,300 yards.
Designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1899, the Detroit Golf Club features narrow, tree lined fairways and doglegged holes, making ball striking both off the tee and on approach very important. Players will need to be able to shape the ball both ways at DGC, and greens in regulation will be paramount.
In saying that, those who are able to control their ball off the tee should find it pretty easy to go low this week. Nate Lashley won the event with a score of 25 under par last season and the cut line of 5 under was the lowest of any event on the PGA Tour.
Power Rankings
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1 - Bryson DeChambeau
How can you not like the form of big Bryson DeChambeau at the moment. He has played in three straight tournaments since the return of the PGA Tour, resulting in a 3rd at the Charles Schwab Challenge, a 8th at the RBC Heritage and a 6th at the Travelers on the weekend.
Can reel off big streaks of birdies and that’s what is needed at Detroit Golf Club. Could be in the mix once again come Sunday.
2 - Viktor Hovland
The 22-year-old was fantastic at the Travelers on the weekend, shooting 63, 69, 67 and 68 to finish 13 under par. He has also played all three tournaments since the resumption of the tour, finishing T23, T21 and T11 respectively. His ball striking is up there with the best in the world at the moment and can only see him improving with more tournament starts under his belt.
Played the Rocket Mortgage Classic last season and finished 13th. Knows the course well.
3 - Tyrrell Hatton
Hatton has played just one event since the tour resumed, finishing T3 at the RBC Heritage. After shooting even par in the first round, Hatton went on a tear from Friday-Sunday, shooting 64, 63 and 65 to finish in the top three. While we haven’t seen a lot of him in recent months, his PGA Tour season to date has quietly been one of the best. He has played five tournaments and his results read T6, T14, T6, 1st (Arnold Palmer Inv.) and T3.
4 - Webb Simpson
Simpson was a late withdrawal from last week’s tournament due to COVID-19 related concerns, however, he and his family have all tested negative meaning he is clear to get back out on the course. The break came at a bad time for Simpson, who had just picked up his 2nd win of the season when he took out the RBC Heritage.
5 - Patrick Reed
Reed is one of the only top tier golfers playing this weekend to have had some form of success at Detroit Golf Club last year. The no.7 player in the world finished 5th in the Rocket Mortgage last year and will should be around the mark again. Bounced back from a missed cut at the RBC with a solid T24 performance at the Travelers on the weekend.
Best Bet
Really like the look of Tyrrell Hatton this weekend. DeChambeau is probably my top ranked player heading into the tournament but just a couple of rungs further down the betting markets and you can get some real value for Hatton, particularly to finish inside the top 10.
The Englishman has played five PGA Tour events this season and finished inside the top 10 on four occassions. The onyl time he didn’t was against a world class field at the WGC-HSBC Champions, where he still managed a strong T14 finish.
Dark Horses
Rory Sabbatini (+5000) finished T3 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last season and has had a pretty decent string of performances since the tour resumed, finishing T14 at the Charles Schwab and T21 at the RBC Heritage.
Doc Redman (+4500) 2nd in detroit last year and has only gotten better and better in all three tournaments since the Tour resumed with a T58 at Charles Schwab, T21 at RBC and T11 at Travelers.
Wes Roach (+10000) Looking way down the list here at Wes Roach. 3rd at DGC last season and has played just one event in the last three weeks, a 5th place finish at Harbour Town.
